Lecture 01
Attendance is expected
Opportunity to work on course assignments with TA support
Labs will begin in Week 2 (September 6th)
Will be posted on Canvas (Announcements tool)
email notification
also check Canvas regularly
This course is assessed 100% on your coursework (there is no exam). We will be assessing you based on the following assignments,
| Assignment | Type | Value | n | Assigned |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Homeworks | Team | 50% | ~6 | ~ Every other week |
| Midterms | Individual | 40% | 2 | ~ Week 6 and 14 |
| Project | Team | 10% | 1 | ~ Week 10 |
Only work that is clearly assigned as team work should be completed collaboratively (Homeworks + Project).
Individual assignments (Midterms) must be completed individually, you may not directly share or discuss answers / code with anyone other than the myself and the TAs.
On Homeworks you should not directly share answers / code with other teams, however you are welcome to discuss the problems in general and ask for advice.
We are aware that a huge volume of code is available on the web, and many tasks may have solutions posted.
Unless explicitly stated otherwise, this course’s policy is that you may make use of any online resources (e.g. Google, StackOverflow, etc.) but you must explicitly cite where you obtained any code you directly use or use as inspiration in your solution(s).
Any recycled code that is discovered and is not explicitly cited will be treated as plagiarism, regardless of source.
The same applies to the use of LLM like ChatGPT, Claude, or GitHub Copilot - you are welcome to make use of these tools as the basis for your solutions but you must cite the tool when using it for significant amounts of code generation.
To uphold the Duke Community Standard:
- I will not lie, cheat, or steal in my academic endeavors;
- I will conduct myself honorably in all my endeavors; and
- I will act if the Standard is compromised.
To reduce friction, the preferred method is to use the department’s RStudio server(s).
To access RStudio/Posit Workbench:
If you cannot access RStudio via the DSS servers:
Make sure you are on authenticated Duke network (e.g. DukeBlue or VPN if off campus)
Make sure you are not using a custom DNS server
1.1.1.1 or 8.8.8.8Use a Docker container from Duke OIT
Reserve a Container and find a container for Sta 313If working locally you should make sure that your environment meets the following requirements:
latest R (4.4.1)
latest RStudio (2024.04.2+764)
working git installation
ability to create ssh keys (for GitHub authentication)
All R packages updated to their latest version from CRAN
Support policy for local installs - we will try to help you troubleshoot if we can but reserve the right to tell you to use the dept server.
We will be using an organization specifically to this course github.com/sta523-fa24
All assignments will be distributed and collected via GitHub
All of your work and your membership (enrollment) in the organization is private
We will be distributing a survey this weekend to collection your GitHub account names
All course related repositories will be created for you
A few suggestions on picking a GitHub username:
Incorporate your actual name! People like to know who they’re dealing with. It makes your username easier for people to guess or remember.
Pick a username you will be comfortable revealing to your future boss.
Shorter is better than longer.
Be as unique as possible in as few characters as possible. In some settings GitHub auto-completes or suggests usernames.
Make it timeless. Don’t highlight your current university, employer, or place of residence.
Avoid words laden with special meaning in programming.
Create a GitHub account if you don’t have one
Complete the course survey
Make sure you can login in to the Department’s RStudio server https://rstudio.stat.duke.edu
Setup ssh key authentication with GitHub, see https://github.com/DukeStatSci/github_auth_guide
If you are not enrolled and are interested in doing so, please fill out the survey below as soon as possible.
Sta 323 - Spring 2024